The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-08-27
Cur @liu.
THE FIERCE MONTANA CAT.
characteristics of the Great Mountain
Lion.


Lion.
A letter to the New York Times from
Fort Keogh, Montana, June 7th, says =
OF all animals ferd ndtura in the North
west, not excepting the grizzlies of the
Rockies, or the monster gray wolves of the
plains, for cunning, daring and general
bloodthirstiness the Montana cat, or noun
tain lion, must be given first rank. This
beast of prey, comparatively harmless in
other attitudes, in this cold, bracing climate
is found more powerful and more dangerous
than anywhere else on the continent. He
grows to an enormous size, is gifted with
rare cunning, and is born with boldness
and daring that is new development of
his nature hitherto unknown. He roams
as far north as the fifty-sixth parallel,
which seems TO be his northern limit, but
from there on down he is distributed as far
as 40 south latitude, and may even be found
in the extremes of Patagonia, for all I
know to the contrary.
The very fact of being an inhabitant of
so many countries accounts for its variety
of names. l have heard the beast called
panther, cougar, puma, painter, California
lion, catamount, but have come to the con-
clusion that, like the leopard who changes
his spots or the chameleon its color, the
name of the animal is merely a matter of
geography.
The mountain lion is carniverous beast,
but, unlike others of its stripe, he does not
stop when hunger is satisfied, but goes on
killing as long as there is anything to kill,
just for the fun of the thing In this
section he is the scourge of the stock raiser
and sheep herder. If he lives in an unin-
habited section his principal diet is deer,
but if cattle range or sheep fold is ada
cent he makes his dinner, as rule, on veal
and lamb In some cases score of sheep
have been killed in one night by a single
lion, and northwest of here, in British Co.
lgmbia, where he is unusually large and
ferocious, even more so than hereabout, l
have heard of one monster slaughtering as
many as fifty sheep from darkness to day
light.
Like his full-blooded cousin of the Afri-
can and Indian forests, the American lion
is endued with immense strength. Did he
but know it he could assume absolute juris-
diction of the American mountains and
forests, Notwithstanding the mighty strength
and aggressive hostility of the big grizzlies
and silver tips which we have in this lati-
tude, To Illustrate the enormous strength
of the northern mountain lion, some time
ago bold Nimrod from Helena, while
breaking trail through the snow of Dry
Gulch, with his dog at his heels, was sud
denly startled by large mountain lion who
leaped chasm of II feet with the nimble-
ness of cat, pounced upon the dog, and
was off and away before the astonished
hunter could catch his breath. The canine
was but triHe in his NAV, for the bounds
of the lion were immense, the weight of the
dog impeding his progress not the slightest.
The man, though dumbfounded and startled
for q minute, set after the brute, but could
not catch him that day, but the next morn
ing he had three huge steel traps set, tempt
ingly baited, and awaited results That
afternoon he took up the trail of the brute,
and after following it four miles found all
the traps sprung, but no prize.
The next day he went after that fellow
double loaded, found him high in tree,
and with 40 bullet bored a hole in his
hide that put an instantaneous termination
to Mr., Mountain Lions earthly career.
He measured feet from tip to tip.
A ranchman on Sunday creek was flag
ging some antelope once, and when the
foolish creatures came within range, victims
of their inordinate curiosity, bang went the
gun, and down went fine buck antelope.
But the pimble thing was up again almost
instantly, and Notwithstanding a fatal
wound in the shoulder made off at railroad
speed, and in its efforts to escape tumbled
head over heels down into a timbered
codise. The hunter came up hand over
fist, on A>dead run and totally out of breath,
but when Rearriged on the spot he found
his quarry claimed by other parties. Two
mammoth mountain lions were quarreling
over the painting carcass, and literally tore
the antelope limb from limb in their dispute
over the proprietorship of the booty The
hunter, after viewing the scene fraction
of second, decided that he had no use for
the meat, and hastily retraced his steps to
safer quarters. This conclusion was hast
ened from the fact that his gun was un-
loaded and his cartridges somewhere in the
rear.
A gentleman who has ranch about 40
miles south of this point, and who has had
plenty Of occasion to study the ways and
habits of these midnight customers, says
that the lions in his neighborhood will drag
down heifer or young steer and take off
a quarter almost as neatly as a butcher
would with his knife. They seldom con-
sumo it on the spot, but always drag it
away and devour it. When they are hun
CRY they will not be contented with the
stock on hand, but will again attack another
beef, never returning to carcass they have
once left. Their jumping powers must be
extraordinary. To my own knowledge /
know of one male adult making clear leap
of Is feet, and have heard it told where
the animals have covered far greater
space than that | have named. If they
make such tremendous jumps in the sight
and presence of individuals, which after all
is a rarity considering the few humans who
have ever seen mountain lions at home,
what must they accomplish when unseen
and in daily pursuit of food in their forest
Businesses
Mr.. John Luman tells of one he encoun-
tered over in the Big Horn Mountains
The gentleman was hotly pursuing q
wounded Rocky Mountain sheep among the
crags and peaks of the very roughest coun-
try on the North American continent, and
just as he came in sight of the crippled
quarry out sprang a large mountain lion
from a 15-foot ledge, threw the sheep across